Difficult choice
by shard finder
Summary: I am horrible with these! It is what would happen if the ending of episode 48 was changed to where Inuyasha went after Kikyo instead of remaining with Kagome. Instead of remaining in the modern era, Kagome joins up with Sango and Miroku and of course they end up crossing paths. I do not own Inuyasha or the characters. I love Reviews so please feel free to leave them!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

She felt stupid as she stood hiding behind the tree as Inuyasha declared his love for Kikyo. She could feel tears starting to coursing down her cheeks as she heard him declare that he was the only one who could protect her. What about her? Does she not matter anymore? She took a deep breath and wiped the tears from her eyes. She could do this! She could hold it together for few minutes. Taking a deep breath, she gathered her courage and stepped out from behind the tree. Meeting his amber eyes, she felt her heart explode into a thousand pieces as she read the answer the unspoken question in his eyes. She knew the truth then. He had chosen her…he had chosen Kikyo!

She brought a hand up to try to keep her pounding, broken heart in her chest. Her breathing became ragged as she tried searching his eyes to see if there was any hesitation, any doubts. Tears started clouding her vision; however, when she realized that there was none. No matter how much she screamed at herself to run, her legs seemed to be frozen.

"Kagome."

That's all it took. Her name on his lips and she found the strength to turn and run away. Her long lithe legs helped her run through the forest towards home where she would be safe. She could get away from him and she wouldn't have to say goodbye. 'No! He can't! He can't break up with her. Stupid!' she screamed in her head as she ran as quickly as she could towards her refuge. The pain shocked her since she knew that this was a possibility from the beginning, she always knew that he was in love with Kikyo. She wanted to scream and rage. How could he do this to her? Why couldn't he choose her.

Her legs burned, her eyes strained to find her way through the dense woods and she had a cramp in her side but she didn't slow down until she saw the well. She breathed out a breath of relief and leapt through the well. Walking into her house, she said nothing to her family and went upstairs to her room to cry about her broken heart. Her heart quivered as she remembered the sight of Kikyo kissing Inuyasha and their arms wrapped around each other. No…she couldn't go back to be with Inuyasha. If she did would Kikyo join the group with Sango, Shippo, Kilala and Miroku would they stay with her instead? She just didn't know. She lay down and figured she would sort it out the next day. At this moment, she just wanted to sleep and forget.

The sky was blue, the sun shining down but all she felt was depressed and sadness. Her heart felt heavy but she had to go back and check on Sango and Miroku. Gathering her supplies together, saying a few niceties to her family, she took a breath and jumped into the well. Standing at the bottom of the well, she glanced up at the blue sky. A tear found itself out of the corner of her eye and down her cheek. She sighed and breathed in deep as she started climbing out of the well. Walking to Kaede's felt like it took forever. As she walked into Kaede's hut, she blinked in surprise as she saw Miroku and Sango stare at her.

"Kagome, Inuyasha told us what happened and he has already left to find Kikyo." Miroku spoke calmly as he studied the young girl. Her face crumbled as she fell to her knees and Sango rushed over to hug her. "I'm so sorry Kagome," Sango said softly.

Kagome felt her knees weaken as her body collapsed. Her heart shattered once again into a million pieces. Not only did he choose Kikyo over her but he also left without saying goodbye! He also left Sango and Miroku! How could he! They didn't do anything wrong and it wasn't right. She shook his head as she felt anger and determination rise inside of her and give her strength. It was her fault after all that the Shikon Jewel was broken into a thousand pieces so she refused to give up! Inuyasha wasn't her reason to be here in the past, it was shattering the jewel. She glanced up at Miroku and Sango.

"Can I remain here with you?"

"You mean you would still want to fight with us?" Sango asked hesitantly.

"Yes."

"Kagome, if we are going after the Shikon Jewel shards, we may cross paths with Inuyasha. Would you be okay with?" Miroku asked calmly and gently

Even the name caused her heart to beat faster. "Sure! He's the one who left us after all. I'm not going to let him stand in the way of defeating Naraku." She jumped to her feet, her hands clenched by her side.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

As they set out from Kaede's, Kagome tried to smile and be cherry but she felt as though she couldn't breathe, like each step was agony and like her life was over. Mostly she was quiet as they trudged along. She was unsure of the direction or the destination since all she focused on was putting one foot in front of the other. The days dragged on but after some time she found herself calming down and enjoying spending the time with Sango, Shippo and Miroku. Although she missed Inuyasha terribly, her heart hurt less as the days went on. She was unsure of the direction or the destination so all she focused on was to continue walking.

"Help!"

"Huh?" She said as they all turned around and a young boy ran up to them.

"It's my grandfather! He twisted his ankle!" The young boy explained.

Miroku glanced around to see who would take him and saw that both women were looking at him. After meeting his eyes, Sango crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. He groaned and looked up at the sky. "Man why do I have to do it! If only Inu…" He broke up and glanced at Kagome, whose eyes widen slightly but she gave him a small smile. Sango smacked him in the back of the head. "Stop griping and get to it."

"Oh my dearest Sango, I wish it was you that I…" He came to a stop as she hit him over the head with her weapon. Kagome found herself giggling at the two of them. She knew that Miroku and Sango were in love so it lightened her heart to see them interact this way. Little did she know that her giggle helped to lighten both of their hearts too. Slowly, Kagome was starting to return but Miroku knew it would be a long process to heal her heart but the small giggle told him that it was possible.

With a smile, he bent down and picked up the old man and they made their way up to the village. When they got closer, Miroku paused.

"What is it, Miroku?"

"Do you not sense it, Sango?"

"A demon's aura. Come lets go!"

"Right!" Kagome chimed in as they ran up to the village

Buildings were on fire, dead men littered the ground around it and the surviving women were gathered into a small area guarded by several men. There were several children with the women but there seemed to be dead children with the men. Kagome felt her heart squeeze for another reason.

"Get the women!" The man with the magenta jacket ordered when he saw the small group arrive, "Kill the others". 'He must be the leader' Kagome thought as the human bandits started approaching them with obvious lust and greed in their eyes. "They're human," Sango pointed out as she smashed her boomerang into one of their faces when they approached too close. Kagome glanced and saw around 6 of them approaching them, but they were also armed. After Miroku knocked one out with his staff and Sango swung at another one, the leader finally stood.

"Enough." The bandits stopped advancing and everyone turned to watch the leader. "Stop and watch." He said coldly but his eyes sparkled with contentment as he had a woman brought to him. "Ahh such a beautiful woman" He said as he stroked her cheek. "Poor thing is terrified of me." He said with a sneer as he took his tongue and stabbed it through the woman's throat and he sucked out her life spirit. Kagome was sadly thankful that her back was them and no scream escaped due to the tongue in her throat but they could hear her gurgling to death. "That is going to be all of your fates." He said when he was finished and he threw the corpse aside.

"How barbaric" Miroku said with horror.

The fighting resumed and with Sango, Kagome, and Miroku fighting even harder in order to escape this fate. After hours of fighting, Sango, Miroku and Kagome were tiring since the bandits would get back up after being knocked out for time. Kagome unfortunately was unable to fight because they had decided not to kill them and all she had was her bow and arrows. She did try to slash at them with her bow or use her fists but she was not incredibly successful. Miroku and Sango were doing a wonderful job keeping them at bay but two of them approached Sango at the same time and one was able to slash at Kagome and got her in the thigh.

The sword felt like a burning slash to her body. At first she lost all of sense of her surroundings as everything focused on her wound. She immediately fell and rolled closer to her companions. Lying on the ground, she grit her teeth against her pain and tried to focus on staunching it until she could tend it later. "Kagome." She heard and she focused on Shippo who had run up to her.

"Kagome!" Miroku and Sango yelled as they gave her a glance and continued fighting the bandits. "I'm fine." Miroku heard her yell from her seated position between himself and Sango. 'After fighting for hours, there seemed to be no end in sight of these bandits.' Miroku thought with despair. "Ahh!" He gasped, as a bandit was able to sneak in and slash his arm. ' Pain burst through him, but at this point, he was able to focus on the task at hand. "Miroku!" He heard the girls cry in worry; he blinked as he could hear the pain lancing Kagom's voice. "I'm okay, he said back. Since they are human, I'm unable to use my wind tunnel. At this rate, I may need to. We need Inuyasha'

Kagome tried focusing on rummaging through her backpack with Shippo in order to find her bandages. She heard Miroku's exclamation and although she heard him say he was okay, but she knew he would have to be tended too as well. She felt desperate as she tried to move her textbooks out of her way in order to find her first aid kit. 'Why did I bury it at the bottom!' she yelled at herself in her mind but she was quickly distracted when a shadow fell over her. Her eyes rose quickly to the man standing over her the evil gleam in his eyes. She quickly noticed that the sword in his hands was descending.

"Inuyasha!" She screamed out of habit and suddenly he was there. She blinked in surprise, as the half-demon seemed to appear out of nowhere and kick the man trying to kill her in the head and immediately knocking him out. She sighed in relief but all of her emotions came roaring came back as she noticed Kikyo had taken her place on his back. Jealousy and anger flashed through her mind and heart but it wasn't the time and place to dwell on it.

"Kagome!"

"I'm fine." She said angrily as she turned her head to the side unable to look at him and trying to get her emotions under control.

He sighed and glanced up at Miroku and Sango. The bandits were still fighting them. Feeling a burst of anger, he jumped and beat all of the bandits within a few seconds, knocking most of them unconscious. The other bandits backed away when Inuyasha unsheathed his sword.

"Well Well." They heard after a second as the fighting paused for a minute. "Half-Demon. I want your sword." The leader said, watching the whole thing with amusement.

"Yeah? Tell someone who cares." Inuyasha said distracted as he glanced over a Kagome trying to assess how badly she was hurt. It was her blood that attracted him here. At movement he glanced up at the demon as it leapt at him. Over estimating his abilities, he tried to swing his heavy sword but he wasn't quick enough as he was doused with toxic dust then slashed in the stomach with the demon's battle-axe. Inuyasha

"Inuyasha!" He heard Kagome scream. He smiled on the inside since it was good to know that she still cared about him. He knew going after Kikyo had hurt her badly and he should have talked to her about it but he wasn't sure if he could actually walk away from Kagome if he saw her in person. If they came out of this alive, he didn't know if he would be able to walk away now.

"My name is Gatenmaru" The demon said smugly as he watched the half demon kneel in pain.

"I don't remember asking." Inuyasha said sarcastically but he blinked when he was suddenly encased in a cocoon separating him from Tessaiga. He blinked as Miroku leapt close to him and encased him a barrier as the cocoon completely surrounded them. The pain was bad and he could feel the pain overcoming him along with something else starting to rise inside of him. He had felt it before and it started scaring him since he wasn't sure if he could control it.

Kagome stared in fear as she watched Inuyasha get injured and encased in a cocoon in only a matter of seconds. He must have been distracted but by what? She knew his sword was still too heavy by him but he almost seemed too slow to respond when the demon leaped at him. She jumped when she felt a hand on her and turned to see Kikyo kneeling by her side, looking at her thigh.

"Kikyo"

"You are hurt." Kikyo said as she glanced up into Kagome's face.

"Yes. A bandit got me with his sword."

"You have to be careful."

Kagome had no response. She turned her face to the side and tried to think of something to say. The thing is it wasn't Kikyo's fault that Inuyasha chose her and nothing would be solved if she lashed out at her. She quickly accepted the aide as Kikyo cleaned and gently wrapped the injury.

"Kikyo!" Kagome yelled as she glanced up in time to see a bandit standing over her. She had no idea where he came from but suddenly he was there and his attention was on the other Priestess. Without thinking she pushed Kikyo to the side as a spear struck.

"AHH" She screamed as her body erupted in pain as the spear stabbed her in the shoulder.

"KAGOME!" Sango screamed as Kagome fell to the ground. She saw movement out of the corner of her eye and she saw Kikyo swing her bow up and knock the bandit to the ground.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

How much time past, Kagome had no idea. She had quickly fallen unconscious after the pain in her wound caused her to black out. The next time she opened her eyes, she saw Kikyo once again dressing her wounds.

"K..Kikyo."

"Hush careful. Inuyasha has reverted to his full demon self. Don't draw attention to yourself. You need to rest and heal." She said softly.

"Inuyasha," she whispered as she watched him destroy the bandits, who started yelling in mercy and were starting to run away in the panic. She could see the looks of desperation in their eyes as they started running. Her eyes went back to his face. His claws were saturated with blood, meaning that he had already killed a couple, his mouth was raised in a smile with his fangs popping through, the purple strips on his face stood out and his red eyes gleamed with anticipation of killing the men. He moved quickly and destroyed Gatenmaru, who was in his full demon state at this point and went down incredibly quickly to Inuyasha's claws.

"Inuyasha." She whispered as she saw him turned with the blood of the demon and humans on his claws. His eyes shifted slowly, enjoying the game of making people wonder whom he was going after next. They landed on a group of men who who starting screaming louder for mercy. Although, Kagome had difficulty feeling truly sorry for them for they were anything but innocent, she knew deep in her heart that no one deserved this type of death.

"Kikyo, stop him! He'll listen to you," She said as she tried to move but the pain in her shoulder and thigh stopped her.

Without another word, Kikyo stood and moved quickly to stand in his way of some bandits.

"Inuyasha! Enough. This is barbaric and disgusting behavior. You are better than this."

Inuyasha growled and moved closer to Kikyo.

"Inuyasha!"

He growled at her voice but he continued moving even closer.

"INUYASHA!" Kikyo screamed as he leapt. Kagome blinked in surprise as she actually heard the panic in her voice. She had raised her bow and arrow and Kagome was terrified that she would actually shoot him.

"SIT BOY!" Kagome screamed as she saw his body moving threatening towards the other Priestess. She would not allow Kikyo to kill him once again so she did the first thing that entered her head. He careened into the ground.

He remained on the ground for a split second and Kagome wondered if that had broken him out of it like it did before. Truth be told, she was surprised that Kikyo's voice didn't work. As he lifted his face, she could still see the claws and the marks on his face so she repeated the command. Once again he was forced face first into the ground. She was almost screaming with pain as she forced her beaten and bloody body across the grass towards him. Her only focus was him as she continued to repeat herself because every time he raised his face, she saw the claws and the purple marks. How many times she said it, she didn't know just like she didn't know how long it took her to move over to him. She was sure that Sango, Kikyo and Miroku yelled at her at some point but she couldn't leave him like this. With only extreme will, she was able to keep moving until with relief she reached him. He was quiet at this point and made no move to get up. He had been hurt too so she wondered if he was unconscious.

"Kagome!" Miroku and Sango both yell in warning as she moved to drape herself across him.

"Inuyasha, please come back to me." She whispered in his ear as she slowly ran her hand through his hair. She closed her eyes as she lost consciousness and ended up laying on Inuyasha's back.

Inuyasha awoke with deep regret and fear. As he opened his eyes, his first emotion was anger as Kagome had continued to use the enchanted beads against him. As he turned his face slightly to the side, he could smell it. Blood. His hands were absolutely covered in the bandit's blood but he didn't remember attacking or killing them. With a shudder of revulsion, he realized that he had attacked them when he was a full demon. He must have hunted them down and he murdered them. His heart clenched with despair as he continued staring at the blood coating his hands. There was another scent that he smelled. One that was comforting and one of his favorites; however, there was also the scent of her blood. A lot of her blood. He went to sit up and was surprised by the feeling of a hand on his shoulder.

"Hear me Inuyasha and remain still. Kagome is badly injured and she's laying on top of you so if you thrash around, you can hurt her."

He growled and remained still but he allowed them to remove the young girl.

Sitting up he was scarred by what he saw. Her face was pale, her eyes closed, her wounds had been dressed but they had started bleeding again when they moved her. The smell of her blood caused him to glanced up and his eyes widen as he realized the path that she had taken. She had dragged her body over the ground until she had collapsed on top of him. She had done that to stop him and to save his soul. He could have killed her but she trusted in him.

"Ka-Kagome!" He could feel his heart even further squeeze as he gently picked her up and held her in his arms.

He glanced up at Miroku and Sango. "Di..Did I do this?" He was almost certain that he didn't but he had to hear it.

Miroku glanced to Sango and she shook her head "No, bandits did this to her."

"Put her down," Kikyo instructed as she slowly approached. Kikyo once again pressed on her wounds until the bleeding stopped once again and Kagome moaned in pain at the pressure. Afterwards she redressed her wounds. Inuyasha flinched when he saw the extent of the wound on her shoulder.


End file.
